


As the Word Settles

by menshouldbelikekleenex



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-01-24 13:49:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18572767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/menshouldbelikekleenex/pseuds/menshouldbelikekleenex
Summary: ... they will find peace in each otherAlma has lived in Hateno all her life. Now that Calamity Ganon has been defeated, she finds herself bored and yearns for something new.Link is looking to find some semblance of a normal life after his long journey and decides to settle down in Hateno.When they're paths cross, they just might find what they're looking for.Set two years after the end of Breath of the Wild.





	1. Encounters

It had been two years since the mysterious energy surrounding Hyrule Castle vanished. Monsters had become scarce and it was once again safe to travel across the lands. Somehow, Princess Zelda and her appointed knight had survived the Calamity and were working to restore the kingdom to its former glory.

Alma didn’t pay much attention to all that. Growing up in Hateno Village meant that she was mostly shielded from the devastation of the Calamity. Her great-grandmother—may Hylia protect her soul—had fled from Castletown during its destruction and settled in Hateno, where she had Alma’s grandmother not long after. She had heard many stories about the terrifying guardians that crawled across the buildings and laid waste to hundreds of settlements. The fear of those monsters kept her family within the village—and she was expected to stay as well.

But none of that changed the fact that she had lived a peaceful life. Her family owned the local general store, and while they had hired Pruce to manage it, she still spent most of her time there, working the counter. Sometimes, against her mother’s wishes, she would travel to the nearby stable to trade with travellers from Kakariko Village.

But most of her life was spent inside the boundaries of the village.

And she was content.

At least that’s what she told herself as she sat behind the counter, watching as person after person walked by. She was stuck there until sundown, but even then she was to go straight home to help her mother prepare dinner.

She placed her head down on the counter to count the grains in the floorboards—a number she knew by heart. Perhaps now that it was safe, she could convince her mother to let her go a bit further than the stable so she could try to find a book to read; anything to keep her occupied.

When she heard someone walking on the wood floor, she looked up to see a man browsing the food. She had seen him several times before; he owned the old house on the outskirts of town. He wasn’t in town often, and mostly kept to himself when he was.

He poked at a carrot thoughtfully and she pursed her lips.

“You touch it, you buy it.”

The man looked up, startled. He caught her eye before sheepishly adding the carrot to his bundle. Satisfied, she went back to counting the grain. It was another ten minutes or so of floor grain before she heard footsteps approach the counter.

“Is this everything, sir?” she asked as she scanned over his, quite frankly, obscene amount of food. She glanced up to see him nod, his piercing blue eyes staring back at her. “That’ll be 200 rupees.”

The man handed her the money, and she helped him place his food into a basket he brought.

“Have a great day,” she said. He gave her a big smile and left the shop.

Now she was bored again.

* * *

 When Alma was a child, her grandmother had gotten her a book of plants. Given most of her days were spent in utter boredom, she soon memorized the book and many of the plants found all over Hyrule. People in Hateno would come to her when someone was sick so that she could recommend a remedy and point them to where they might find it. It was a hobby or sorts, she supposed.

It was her day off from the shop and she decided that going down to the beach to look for useful plants would be a good way to spend her time. Hateno, and Necluda in general, was not the most diverse ecosystem in the kingdom, but she could get a few hearty radishes and Hylian herbs on her way down to the beach. The path to the beach was quiet—most thought it too cold at this point in the season to go down there, but she didn’t mind the slight chill.

She was gazing up at the clouds, content to let the sun slowly warm her chilled skin, when she heard a small groan. Glancing off toward the noise, she saw the man from the outskirts of the village. He was holding his arm close to his body. She could tell that he was in pain, even from a distance. Concerned, she abandoned her plans to approach him.

“Are you alright, sir?”

The man looked up, blinking a few times in the bright sun. He looked at her for a few seconds before looking at his arm. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding.

Alma raised an eyebrow at this, but shrugged. If he didn’t want help, it wasn’t her fault. She turned to leave, walking back to the path. She looked back over her shoulder and called, “Just put some of the salve we sell at the general store on it. Should fight off infection.”

With that, she continued to the beach.

* * *

Alma was eating lunch with Prima on the raised deck of the Inn during her lunch break. Pruce was doing most of the work in the store and she really did not want take stock. So she decided it was lunch time. Prima had been her friend since they were young despite Prima being a bit older than her, so naturally Alma insisted she take her break as well.

“So you know that weird guy who lives outside of town?” Prima asked. She took a bite of her curry and looked at Alma over her fork, an eyebrow quirked.

“The blonde guy?” she asked. When Prima nodded, she continued. “Yeah, he comes into the store to buy food. Why?”

“He started asking me what I like. Completely unprovoked.”

“Maybe he was just being polite? I mean, I didn’t even know he could talk.”

“I told him crickets.”

Alma paused, her spoon halfway to her mouth. “Crickets?” She put her spoon down, food forgotten. “Did he bring you crickets?”

“No, Manny did.”

Alma snorted. Of course. Of course Manny enlisted that man’s help in his quest to get with Prima. He had been trying to get her to like him since they were children. Alma had always stood on the side lines, entertained by the ever growing drama between the two.

“Maybe you should just move away so he can’t find you,” Alma joked. “It’s safe to do so now!”

“No thanks. I like it here. Besides, once _you_ move, I get to work in the general store and not have to work nights!”

“Who said I was moving?” Alma raised an eyebrow.

“Please, everyone knows you hate it here.”

“I don’t—” Alma trailed off, seeing as Prima was now openingly staring at something behind her.

Turning, she was confused to see the strange man standing at the entrance of the terrace. He had a plant in his hands—an armoranth, if she was not mistaken. They were rather rare in these parts, and she hadn’t seen one in real life before.

“Can I help you?” Prima asked. It was a safe bet that he needed something in the inn.

“Oh,” he said softly. “No, thank you.”

It was the first time Alma heard him speak. His voice was soft, but deeper than she was expecting. It was… nice, she supposed.

When no one said anything in the seconds that followed, Alma shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She started to stand, turning back to Prima.

“Well, my break is over. I have to go back to the store.”

She turned to the door of the terrace with her plates in hand and was startled to see the armoranth extended close to her. It almost knocked the food out of her hand.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, both due to her stumbling and his hands coming up to steady her by her waist.

“Sorry,” he said. His hands left her hips, only for one to rub at the back of his neck. As if struck, he jolted and tried handed the armoranth to her. “This is for you. As thanks for telling me about the salve.”

She slowly took the plant from him, eyeing him suspiciously. Buying things from her family was thanks enough in her eyes. He already indirectly gave her money.

“Pruce told me you like plants. You can’t find that around here, so I thought you might like it.”

She looked back to the armoranth and nodded slightly. A small smile graced her face the longer she looked at the flower. How sweet, she thought, the fact that he was asking about her having not dawned on her yet. Perhaps she had him pegged wrong. Maybe he wasn’t as strange as she thought.

Just awkward.

“Thank you,” she said. “It’s lovely. This can be used in many different medicines. Oh, I’ll have to ration it if I want to make everything I want…”

“I can bring you more if you want. I go to the Akkala Highlands often.”

Alma’s eyes went wide. He must be joking—Akkala’s highlands weren’t exactly the closest place to Necluda! But his face showed no signs of it being a joke. Clearing her throat gently, she said, “Oh, that’s too kind! But I really don’t want to be a burden.”

“It’s not.”

She blinked a few times at the matter of fact statement. By this point, she could feel her cheeks and pointed ears growing warm from the attention, but the man seemed not to notice.

“Oh, ok. Thanks… Uh, I’m sorry. I don’t even know your name.”

“Link,” he said. He gave no indication that he was going to say anything else.

“Well, Link, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Alma.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I wasn’t expected to post a new story so soon after finishing This Sprawling Path, but I really don’t want to work on my research papers so here we are. 
> 
> Please enjoy!


	2. A Friend

It didn’t take long for Alma to figure out who Link was. Everyone talked about the Princess’ appointed knight—a young man named Link. Despite the fact that he saved the world, and apparently was dead for one hundred years, she found that she didn’t quite care. He was just the nice man who gave her rare plants. It also didn’t take her long to realize that he was incredibly lonely. He didn’t speak much, but that gave the impression that he didn’t want company, which isn’t true.

It had been a month since he gave her the armoranth, and since then, she has received many different flowers and roots that could be used for medicinal purposes. Often, she gave some of the results to him, as it seemed that he was somehow always injured. While dropping in frequency, there were still monsters, and it seemed Link was determined to get rid of all of them.

Currently, Alma was working in the general store once more, sitting behind the counter. She had convinced her mother to let her travel to the stables once more, and she actually found a merchant selling books. It wasn’t the best book ever, but it served to keep her busy.

When the door opened, she glanced up and smiled when she saw Link entering. He waved at her and began to look around the shop, looking for food. They have eaten dinner together twice in the month they’ve known each other, and every single time, Alma is astounded with how much he could eat.  

“We just got some Tabantha wheat in. A rito was at the stable I went to and was willing to trade for it.”

Link nodded and picked up the bundle of gains she had pointed to. They seemed like nice quality.

“How was the stable?” he asked.

She had informed him that she would be leaving for a few days in order to look go to a stable. He didn’t want to admit that it was kind of lonely without her here. She was really the only one he talked to, and so most of the days she was gone was spent in silence for him.

“It was good,” she said. “I got a book.”

She held the book up triumphantly, but giggled when he laughed at her actions.

“I’m sure that’s helping with your shifts,” he said. He still had a smile on his face as he continued to pick up supplies.

“Oh, definitely. I’m almost done with it, though. Then it’s back to boredom for me!”

Link looked at her thoughtfully, his hand poised above a fortified pumpkin that a Sheikah gave the shop as she was passing through. She raised an eyebrow, but waited for him to say something.

“Zelda has a lot of books at the Castle. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind letting you borrow some.”

Alma’s eyes widened. She began to frantically wave her hands in front of her while shaking her head.

“No, I couldn’t possibly!” she exclaimed. Link looked on amused. “I can’t borrow books from the _princess_.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know! It just feels wrong.”

“I can tell her it’s for me if that makes you feel better.”

“No, don’t worry about it!”

Link said nothing more as he brought his food to the counter she was sitting behind. She quickly did the math in her head—it was almost second nature at this point. Link was suspiciously quiet as he watched her work. Usually he would make some small talk, or something.

“You could come with me to Castletown.”

Alma paused, all the numbers in her head disappearing in an instant. When she caught his eye, he wasn’t joking. He had that same earnest face that he wore whenever he was thanking her for something.

He had confided in her that he didn’t much like travelling by himself. It reminded him too much of his time without his memories—when he was trying to regain his strength to defeat the Calamity—lost, alone, and trying to recover _something_.

“My mother…” was all Alma could choke out.

She was beyond flattered that Link asked her to go with her to Castletown, which had finished its reconstruction just a year after Link triumphed. Last dinner they had together, she admitted that she felt a bit trapped in Hateno. That she wished to venture out into the world.

“I can talk to her if you want,” he said. “I’m sure she’ll feel better if she knew you had a companion and not just travelling alone.”

 _Especially a companion like you_ , she thought. Her mother would entrust her safety to the Hero of Calamity, right? Before she let that train of thought get to far, she shook her head.  

“I’m sorry, Link,” she said, trying to ignore how he was obviously trying to hide his disappointment. “I would love to, but…”

“You don’t have to explain yourself,” he said. Despite the fact that she could clearly tell he was sad, he gave her a brilliant smile. “Besides, I don’t know if your mother would be too happy with you travelling with an older man, even if I promise to keep you safe.”

Alma snorted. “You’re only two years older than me, you dork.”

He laughed slightly.

“Stop laughing at me and give me your money,” Alma said with a roll of her eyes. She couldn’t hide the grin she was sporting, however.

“Once you tell me how much I owe, I will.”

“195 rupees.”

* * *

Link was in his home, unpacking his haul from the general store. He paused at the Tabantha wheat—he didn’t even know what to use it in. He just got it cause it seemed like Alma was proud that she had gotten an item that is so rare in Necluda.

He could always ask Zelda for some recipes when he next when to Castletown. He was due to leave in the morning. Though he was unsure as to what Zelda needed, he knew she wouldn’t call him if it wasn’t important.

Since the Calamity, they’ve been… more open about their thoughts. They both knew they couldn’t go back to a hundred years ago. They couldn’t keep pretending that they were ok. They needed to be able to support each other.

That’s why when Link expressed that he wanted a normal life, she suggested moving into the house he bought in Hateno. And maybe trying to make friends. She also promised to not call on his as often.

With a deep sigh, he started his cooking fire. He wished he asked Alma if she wanted to eat dinner that night. The silence was starting to get to him once again. He didn’t want to be alone. But after she said no to travelling with him, he just couldn’t bring himself to ask.

But that’s ok. He didn’t blame her. After all, she barely knew him—despite her calling him a friend multiple times, they’ve still only known each other for a month.

Maybe in the future she’ll agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: I place Link at 17 before the Calamity. I would say his journey (especially if you’re looking at my playthrough lol) took about a year. Since this takes place two years after that, he’s twenty in this story. Alma, then, is 18. 
> 
> Also, I know he’s technically called the Hero of the Wild, but I think that’s stupid and Hero of Calamity sounds way better. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Alone Together

“Are you sure, Princess?” 

Link watched from his place at the table, his eyes darting between Zelda and the rest of the party. The princess had called most of the leaders of the various settlements to her temporary home in Castletown. It was Kaneli, the Elder of the Rito who spoke. Despite the overwhelming silence, the rest of the leaders seemed shocked. The only one who seemed unmoved was Riju, but she did seem interested. 

“I am sure. The royal family failed Hyrule and threw this world into disarray.” Zelda paused. 

“But to step down… The hylian people would be without a leader!” Sidon called from his place at the end of the table. He had come in place of his father as King Dorephan would not fit into the princess’ home. 

“Each settlement seems to have their own leaders; I will not take that away from them. Besides, Link and I have been away from the world for one hundred years. We no longer know the issues nor do we represent the people. I am willing to just live my life as Zelda, Keeper of the Triforce and not princess, or queen, of Hyrule.” 

Zelda had informed Link of her decision before the meeting had begun—she practiced giving the speech to him to get rid of her nerves. It hadn’t necessarily worked, but he reassured her that it was for the best. Zelda had been trapped in the castle with Calamity Ganon for so long that she needed time to recollect herself. 

Now Link raised his hand slightly to call attention to him. His voice was quiet, but strong. “I will still be available for any issues you have with reclaiming the Divine Beasts as well as any lingering monsters.”

“Are you staying in Castletown as well, my friend?” Sidon asked. 

Link shook his head. “I have a house in Hateno Village. Send any requests there.” 

* * *

Alma was sitting on the sand, looking out over water as it lapped at the beach. It was quiet today. Like everyday. She regretted not taking Link up on his offer, but the thought of going that far… it did scare her. She had never been further than the nearest stable. In reality, as her mother likes to remind her every so often, she knows nothing about the world—only the stories her great-grandmother told of the Calamity and the time it took her to get to Hateno. 

The world was dangerous. 

But it was also beautiful.

The images she saw in the plant book, supplemented by Link’s stories, set a fire of yearning deep in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to see that beauty, even if it scared her. 

But it was too soon. The world was only just beginning to settle into safety, and who knows what darkness might crawl out of some deep pit to fill the void Calamity Ganon’s destruction left in the world. In a month or two, she told herself, she would be comfortable with exploring the world.

Especially with Link. He was the one who killed the Calamity after all. Who would keep her safe if not him? 

* * *

Link left Castletown later that night. Zelda had offered him one of the vacant houses in town, like she had for the other leaders, but he just wanted to go home. It would take him a day or so to reach Hateno, but he preferred to sleep under the stars than in some house. 

Despite being lonely, he just didn’t know how to interact with people. He wished he could just talk to people with the ease that the Princess did. She could so easily put aside her reservations and speak to whoever she wanted.

He remembered his friends before. He didn’t speak to them as much as he would have liked now that he looks back, but they always knew that didn’t mean he didn’t care.

 Mipha knew him before he fell silent, so she had the easiest time picking up on his mood and talking about things that fit.

Daruk would just fill the silence himself

Urbosa… well, beside the occasional threat about protecting Zelda, she too would warmly accept Link’s company. 

And Revali… Despite him saying that he did not like Link, he knew that the rito was just rather prickly. He would never refuse the hero’s company.

But now they’re all gone. All except him and Zelda. 

He made new friends during his journey, but the world was so much more divided than it was one hundred years ago. He doesn’t get to see them as often as he did his old friends.

But then there was Alma. She lived in the same town as he now did. She was relatively easy to speak to. She didn’t mind the silence that would often take hold. 

She was someone he didn’t want to let slip through his fingers. 

* * *

When Link arrived back at Hateno, it was about midday. He let Epona graze in the grass around his house and moved to place his bag in his house. He was stopped, however, by someone calling his name.

Turning around, he spotted Alma waving at him. She was carrying a basket that he could only guess was filled with an assortment of plants. He smiled gently as she moved closer to speak to him. He removed his hood to better see.

“Good to see you back!” she called. She stopped a foot or two away, a grin on her face. “It just wasn’t the same without you!”

And Link felt happiness bloom in his chest. 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. I am so sorry it took this long to get this chapter out. My internship really kicked my ass! I was out of the house from basically 4:30AM to 8:30PM, and I just had no motivation to write. But I'm back and hopefully it won't take three months to get the next chapter out!


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